Obama Abroad

Odds Against Obama Winning the Nobel? As High as 25-to-1

By Frank Ahrens
In addition to placing odds on sports, wagering establishments lay odds on nearly any activity that has at least two possible outcomes. Betting houses place odds on elections in America and around the world, the outcome of "American Idol," how "The Sopranos" would end and, yes, the Nobel Prizes. If people are willing to bet on something, odds will be laid and sports books will make money.

A favorite to win the peace prize was female Afghan human rights activist Sima Samar. She was installed as a 4-to-1 favorite to win the peace prize by Betzoo, a British betting site. British site Paddy Power also made Samar its favorite, at 9-to-2 odds. Paddy Power put Obama at 18-to-1 earlier this year. The recent money at Paddy Power was moving toward female Colombian politician Piedad Cordoba, Britain's Mirror newspaper reported.

Betzoo gave Obama only a 25-to-1 shot to win the award, the same odds given to Mordechai Vanunu, a former Israeli nuclear technician who was convicted of treason for exposing state secrets, and folk singer Pete Seeger, composer of "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?"

British betting site Ladbrokes made Cordoba and male Chinese dissident Hu Jia co-favorites, both at 5-to-1.

Comments

I'm sure that Obama or any of his family had a vote in this. Americans should consider this quite an honor for the sitting President of the United States. Maybe in years to come, due to his excellence in broadcasting and his amazing talent on loan from God, Rush may be considered for a prize of some kind. Do they give prizes for the most obnoxious radio host? Maybe he will win a prize for the biggest dork that ever hoodwinked people into believing his spewing of hate talk and racial discriminating since the Hitler that acted the same way. Let's be happy for our President and enjoy this honor.

Within days of the announcement for 2009’s Nobel Peace Prize, Mordechai Vanunu declined the honor in a letter to the Nobel Peace Prize Committee in Oslo:

I am asking the committee to remove my name from the nominations…I cannot be part of a list of laureates that includes Simon Peres…Peres established and developed the atomic weapon program in Dimona in Israel…Peres was the man who ordered [my] kidnapping…he continues to oppose my freedom and release…WHAT I WANT IS FREEDOM AND ONLY FREEDOM….FREEDOM AND ONLY FREEDOM I NEED NOW.

The question should be what are the odds that Obama will take the award as a mandate to DO SOMETHING to deserve it?

On April 5, 2009, President Obama stood on the world stage in Prague and admitted, "As the only nuclear power to have used a nuclear weapon, the United States has a moral responsibility to act…When we fail to pursue peace, then it stays forever beyond our grasp. We know the path when we choose fear over hope. To denounce or shrug off a call for cooperation is an easy but also cowardly thing to do. That’s how wars begin. That’s where human progress ends…the voices of peace and progress must be raised together…Human destiny will be what we make of it…Words must mean something."

On October 2, 2009, The Washington Times reported that "Obama agrees to keep Israel's nukes secret [and] reaffirmed a 4-decade-old secret understanding that has allowed Israel to keep a nuclear arsenal without opening it to international inspections."

"Kennedy insisted on an open internal inspection. He wrote letters demanding that Ben Guirion open up the Dimona for inspection.

"When Johnson became president, he made an agreement with Israel that two senators would come every year to inspect. Before the senators would visit, the Israelis would build a wall to block the underground elevators and stairways. From 1963 to ’69, the senators came, but they never knew about the wall that hid the rest of the Dimona from them.

"Nixon stopped the inspections and agreed to ignore the situation. As a result, Israel increased production. In 1986, there were over two hundred bombs. Today, they may have enough plutonium for ten bombs a year."

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